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Author Topic: Keychain and Certificates  (Read 1519 times)

Offline iGuy

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Keychain and Certificates
« on: September 08, 2006, 07:39:56 PM »
I am dealing with Certificates for the first time and don't quite understand them.

My son's Elementary school has a new website.  Parents will be able to view information about their child which includes homework assignments, progress reports, messages from the school or teacher, and much more.

Before visiting the site I was instructed to download an SSL certificate.  I did so and it is now located in my Keychain Access.  Afterwards I went to the schools site.  A popup message from Safari asked me something I can't remember.  I had to punch in my administrators password I believe it was.  Then I continued on and could view the site.  Although, before viewing personal info about my son I had to type in a Password and ID provided by the school.

My question:I now have two new certificates in my Keychain Access.  One is a Standard blue Certificate.  When clicking on it it shows a small certificate icon with its description.  Below its Expiration date it reads in red text, "This certificate was signed by an untrusted issuer".  What does that mean and do I need to fix it?

The second certificate is a gold Root Certificate.  Below its expiration date it says in red text, "This certificate is not in the trusted root database".  

Educate me,
Ryan
« Last Edit: September 08, 2006, 10:34:34 PM by iGuy »
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Offline Paddy

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Keychain and Certificates
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2006, 12:35:19 AM »
Ryan, I found this in Apple's documentation - it's about Mail 2.0, but seems applicable to what you're seeing.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?pa.../en/ml1042.html

It would appear that the gold one is fine and the other one needs updating. There are instructions in the document for fixing this. Sounds easy enough - let us know if it works! smile.gif
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Offline iGuy

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Keychain and Certificates
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2006, 10:03:22 PM »
Thanks for your reply, Paddy.  I haven't visited TS in a few days that is why I haven't replied.

I read your link and it described my issue.  I opened Keychain Access after reading your link to attempt the process and noticed the two Certificates now read, "This Certificate is Valid".  Some how it fixed itself.  smile.gif  What I was going to do was put the Root Certificate into X509Anchors file within Keychain Access.  Looks like it may of did it  itself.  Right now I am not clear on what digital Certificates really do.  

I have read the Certificate Assistant which is within the Keychain Access Application.  It describes a Certificate as part of my digital identity as the user of a network or the internet.  Your identity is stored in the keychain.

I am assuming it is similar to a cookie.  It is so the school's website can identify me.

If anyone is familiar with digital Certificates I would appreciate an explanation I can understand. smile.gif  What is their point?

Ryan
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